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CHRONICLE-INDEPENDENT (Camden, S.C.) - FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2011 - 3

Letters
Tea Party Patriots standing up against destruction of our country
I am a proud American who, according to County Councilman Jimmy Jones, would meet his definition of a Patriot. After all, I served over 28 years in the Marine Corps, earning the rank of sergeant major, (command sergeant major for you Army veterans) in the Infantry. My grandfather also served in World War I, my father served in the Korean War, and my son now serves as a Marine. That makes me a veteran with a proud family tradition of serving our county. The dictionary though describes a Patriot as a person who loves and loyally or zealously supports his county. The Tea Parties throughout this nation are Patriots who are standing up against the destruction of our country. That is why I am a proud member of the Kershaw County Patriots, a Tea Party group whose average age is 65. We are concerned citizens with conservative values, and we believe in the Constitution and the Founding Fathers. We worked hard to elect Republican Mick Mulvaney to the 5th Congressional District and our governor, Nikki Haley. We also gave Sherriff Jim Matthews a platform to speak; he attended our meetings regularly and I personally introduced him to a crowd to speak just before the November 2010 election. Here lately we have been getting some vulgar, slanderous comments from Sheriff Matthews and County Councilman Jones. There seems to be an organized attack by Democrats nationally wanting to discredit the Tea Parties. Just turn on your TV and watch the Democrats blame the debt crisis on Tea Parties. Especially with our federal government now spending 100 percent of GDP, a $14 trillion deficit and our recent downgrading of our AAA rating to AA+, we Tea Partiers are very concerned. Our state and local governments are to a less extent in the same state. The idea of blaming concerned citizens who just want to cut spending and stop the printing of money is, of course, nonsensical. All we want is the same responsibility from government that we demand from ourselves in not spending more than we take in. Now I know Councilman Jones and Sheriff Mathews ran as Republicans, but lets take a closer look: Did you know that Councilman Jones, an elected Republican, was a sponsor of a fundraiser for State Rep. Mia Butler, a far-left leaning Democrat? Did you know that Sheriff Matthews, prior to moving to Kershaw County, voted in the Democrat primary election? There are many other situations which I hear around the county that would lead one to believe Matthews and Jones are Democrats, but we can leave that for another time. So the question is what has happened to cause these two politicians to utter these unbelievable, disgusting comments in the paper, the TV evening news and especially Jones explosion of hate speech during a county council meeting, calling Jeff Mattox and the Kershaw County Patriots Nazis? From late January and for a month or so, Jeff Mattox, a member of the Kershaw County Patriots (Tea Party), came before county council questioning the wisdom of the new sheriff wanting an additional $250,000 taken out of the reserve fund for some threats that left him concerned for his physical safety. With the upcoming national election the Democrats want to shut up the Tea Parties across this county. They do not want us telling Americans about their fiscal incompetence and lies. Remember Janet Napolitano, shortly after being confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security, published a document stating that our veterans and returning veterans are our new terrorist threat? She has also published a document called Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment. Sheriff Matthews is using this document to justify placing individuals like me on a rightwing extremist list which he has done and which I find very appalling. With Sheriff Matthews extensive DEA and ATF background, one can imagine a police state which is very scary. I would strongly encourage Sheriff Matthews to welcome Sheriff Richard Mack and Oath keepers into our sheriffs department to train the sheriff and all his employees what it means to be a constitutional public servant. Lexington County Sheriff James Metts has already scheduled Sheriff Mack, who is a strict constitutional sheriff, to train all his deputies. That would go a long way to help repair Matthews damaged image, with three $2 million lawsuits pending. There are many Kershaw County citizens who have voters remorse and for good reason. Top that with Councilman Jones unacceptable statements and you have to wonder if its fair to think there may be a different agenda being played out here. I know that I and my fellow Patriots are not right wing extremist nor are we Nazis. Someone should make a public apology. Larry B. Risvold Elgin

Summer reading selections language, not message, remains parents concern

For those of you who may not be familiar with this issue, my problem is with books with excessive profanity being used in the Kershaw County School District. The one discussed in this article used the F word close to 20 times along with other multiple, in my opinion, socially unacceptable words. I have to refer to this word as the F word because it would otherwise not be printed in this paper, just as it wasnt used in the WLTX news broadcast, but still OK for our school district to make it available to our kids. To start with, I dont understand concern about First Amendment rights. No one is asking these types of books to be destroyed and no further books like them to ever be written, sold or read again. If this were someone who was trying to destroy these types of books or trying to remove them from the Kershaw County Public Library, I would agree with the folks on the committee and back the authors of these books 100 percent. On that note, I would like to thank the author Chris Crutcher for donating five copies to our public library (again my opinion, this is where it should be) in this economy, Im sure their budget is tight. This situation was different however. Even if these books are removed from use in our school district they are readily available to students who could benefit from them through the public library and, of course, multiple bookstores or even downloaded. I am very disappointed, but not surprised, at the decision to keep books with this type of language in our school system and am sure there are plenty of books with the same messages that do not rely on such an abundant use of profanity to get their message across. I never had a problem with the stories or the messages in this book as I feel any topic can and should be discussed in a professional manner without the use of profanity. I would think, as a school district, we would be concentrating on teaching our kids how to respond to adversity and tough situations in a civil and professional manner so they dont rely on profanity-laced comments to express themselves in their adult lives. Concerning the summer reading list, it would be nice for future lists to at least forewarn parents which books have objectionable or explicit language and content. I dont know about other parents but I dont have the time to read 40 books in one month in an effort to make an educated decision of which book is best for my kids.
Doug Berry Camden

Elgin Town Councilman Larry B. Risvold shared this photo representing his military service.
a DUI-traffic unit to consist of four new police officers, four new police cars and additional training during a time when our local, state and national governments are spending too much. Councilman Jones was the No. 1 supporter of the increase, saying it was revenue neutral. I have always thought that police are not there to make money but rather to serve and protect -- but maybe I am wrong. Matthews has stated that he will pay back the $250,0000 in six months through speeding tickets and other fines, which means the working citizens of Kershaw County will be paying for Matthews revenue neutral program. During this time members of the Patriots set up a Facebook page which anyone can ask to be a member and can post whatever they like. Please check out the Kershaw County Patriots Facebook site and you will find articles on Agenda 21, Home Land Security, Constitutional Rights and many other topics. One such article was posted by Marlene (Patty) Motley titled When to shoot a cop. First off, let me say I do not know of anyone in the Kershaw County Patriots who would ever condone shooting anyone, especially a police officer. I will also point out that the title is way out there -- intended to get attention -- but the article does not condone shooting anyone. Sheriff Matthews himself stated the article did not promote the shooting of a cop. The article discusses situations when governments were dangerous such as in Nazi Germany. By the time the Jews were in concentration camps, it was too late for them to resist. At what point are citizens forced to defend themselves from government agents when the government agents are clearly wrong? That was the question being discussed and was the entire point of the article. Jeff Mattox did not write or post the article, nor did he even comment on it. Jeff just clicked on the Like button on Facebook below the article to indicate that it was interesting. For some reason, the sheriff and Councilman Jones could not wait to run off at the mouth with their vulgar, slanderous attacks based on this one innocent act of Jeffs. The words they used were Right Wing Extremist and Nazi which they published in the newspaper and stated on the local news TV programs. Could this be a reprisal against someone who questioned their actions? Soon after, Kershaw County Republican Party Chairman Chris Oviatt held an emergency meeting of the executive committee and removed the co-chair seat that Jeff held. Jeff was not kicked out of the Republican Party and is still a precinct executive committeeman for the GOP. Jeff, as a result of all these unfair and uncalled-for attacks, received

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